Denemek ALTIN - Özgür

The U.S. economy depends more than ever on rich people

Mint New Delhi

|

February 25, 2025

The top 10% of earners are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags

- Rachel Louise Ensign

Many Americans are pinching pennies, exhausted by high prices and stubborn inflation. The well-off are spending with abandon.

The top 10% of earners—households making about $250,000 a year or more—are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets.

Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody's Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%.

All this means that economic growth is unusually reliant on rich Americans continuing to shell out. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, estimated that spending by the top 10% alone accounted for almost one-third of gross domestic product.

Between September 2023 and September 2024, the high earners increased their spending by 12%. Spending by working-class and middle-class households, meanwhile, dropped over the same period.

"The finances of the well-to-do have never been better, their spending never stronger and the economy never more dependent on that group," said Zandi, who oversaw the analysis, which was based on data from the Federal Reserve. The analysis runs through the third quarter of 2024 because that is the most recent data available.

Taken together, well-off people have increased their spending far beyond inflation, while everyone else hasn't. The bottom 80% of earners spent 25% more than they did four years earlier, barely outpacing price increases of 21% over that period. The top 10% spent 58% more.

A stock market selloff or decline in home values that rattles the confidence of the top 10% and causes them to cut back would have a significant effect on the economy. Consumer sentiment is starting to slide overall, including for the wealthiest third of consumers, thanks in part to tariff threats.

Mint New Delhi'den DAHA FAZLA HİKAYE

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

Science at the political table

'The Man who Fed India' is a diligent record of India's most impactful agriculture scientist, M.S. Swaminathan

time to read

5 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Coming: A one-helpline fix for all farm grievances

Farmers may soon have just one number to call for every grievance—from crop insurance delays to fake fertilizer complaints.

time to read

1 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Prosus buys 10% stake in Ixigo parent for ₹1,295 cr

Travel tech platform Ixigo has sold a 10% stake in the company to Dutch investor Prosus for ₹1,295 crore, which it plans to use primarily for investing in artificial intelligence, expanding its hotel business, and acquisitions.

time to read

1 min

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

Funds sidestep MF Lite over curbs, high AUM threshold

Ten months since Sebi debuted light-touch regulation for passive funds, no one has signed up

time to read

2 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

Investors aren't too excited about TCS's biggest bet

“We are on a journey to become the world’s largest artificial intelligence (AI)-led technology services company,” said Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd’s chief executive K. Krithivasan in prepared remarks on Thursday after announcing it will spend over $6 billion in about six years to set up data centres.

time to read

2 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

Jindal Stainless bets on green energy to protect EU exports

Nearly 65% of the ₹700-800 cr investment will be towards power purchase pacts, says MD

time to read

2 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

The three instigators

STREAM OF STORIES

time to read

4 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

A threadfin stew, and the idea of home

Cynics would say I am rootless. I'd say I am rooted in many places. I've lived in Bengaluru for 26 years, Delhi for 17. Bengaluru is the place I consider home, I speak Kannada passably, and I am deeply attached to the people and the city. Yet, I can't say I truly belong. I never really took to Delhi and its culture, although I speak Hindi decently. Mumbai is always exciting and feels like home for about a week, after which I'd rather go home. My Marathi is good enough to fool the locals for a while, and I like hearing my mother's tales of her life there—it gives me some feeling of closeness.

time to read

2 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Mint New Delhi

A history of maps to put people in place

A handsome new volume chronicles the complex evolution of India's geography through rare and priceless maps

time to read

2 mins

October 11, 2025

Mint New Delhi

Norms for hazardous chemicals tightened

The government has overhauled more than four-decade-old safety codes that govern the production, handling, and storage of hazardous chemicals, as it seeks to bolster industrial safety and prevent chemical-related mishaps in India.

time to read

1 min

October 11, 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size